morning9amnews

[morning9amnews]

WeWe Global expands Ponzi with LyoFI and LyoPay

LyoFI is a spinoff of the WeWe Global Ponzi scheme.

LyoFI’s website domain (“lyofi.com”), was privately registered on July 30th, 2021.

WeWe Global revealed the company, as a partnership with itself, in October 2021:

In the footer of LyoFI’s website, the following information is provided:

DIGIFI GROUP LTD BRN: 2073860 Skeleton Bay Lot, Tortola BVI

The BVI is a scam-friendly jurisdiction that scammers only use to incorporate shell companies. Any MLM company representing ties to the BVI is an immediate due-diligence red flag.

“Digifi Group LTD” is a derivative of DigiTech Services LTD, the BVI shell company WeWe Global represents it is owned by.

At time of publication WeWe Global’s official FaceBook page is managed from the UAE and Italy.

WeWe Global’s connection to the UAE is guaranteed to be Dubai:

Dubai is the MLM crime capital of the world. As with BVI, any MLM company that has ties to Dubai is guaranteed to be there because its business model is fraudulent.

Italy appears to be where WeWe Global is currently being heavily promoted. At time of publication SimilarWeb ranks top sources of traffic to WeWe Global’s website as Italy (62%), Greece (12%) and Turkey (8%).

The only executive that has thus far put their face to WeWe Global is Luiz Goes (also spelt Luiz Goez)

Luiz cites himself as the CEO of LyoPay. LyoPay is a crypto exchange launched in 2020

Luiz represents himself to be a Brazilian citizen. His LinkedIn features the usual string of failed crypto bro projects, dating back to 2019.

LyoPay was essentially dead until very recently:

This coincides with WeWe Global recruitment picking up in 2022.

WeWe Global’s LyoFI offering saw the Ponzi scheme launch new a new 900 day daily returns Ponzi scheme.

WEWE Global’s partnership with LYOFi presents to its users an innovative technology of minting tokens — cloud minting.

It’s the usual staking scam, orchestrated through LYOCREDIT token (LYO).

WeWe Global’s original Ponzi scheme was the same scam but with WEWEX tokens.

LyoPay was essentially dead until very recently:

This coincides with WeWe Global recruitment picking up in 2022.

WeWe Global’s LyoFI offering saw the Ponzi scheme launch new a new 900 day daily returns Ponzi scheme.

WEWE Global’s partnership with LYOFi presents to its users an innovative technology of minting tokens — cloud minting.

It’s the usual staking scam, orchestrated through LYOCREDIT token (LYO).

WeWe Global’s original Ponzi scheme was the same scam but with WEWEX tokens.

WeWe Global’s WEWEX Ponzi appears to have taken a back seat (read: collapsed).

WeWe Global solicits investment into LYO via euro equivalents in bitcoin and ethereum.

Ten investment plans are offered, spanning 100 to 100,000 EUR.

WeWe Global pitches LYO invested into LyoFI will pay a 300% ROI over 900 days.

The MLM side of the business appears unchanged from BehindMLM’s original WeWe Global review, published July 2021.

LyoFI Ponzi withdrawals are paid in LYO, which affiliates convert into bitcoin.

The Cloud Minting Program, brought to you in partnership with LYOFi, is a service to rent hardware and mint LYOCREDIT tokens. You can store LYO or swap them for bitcoin.

With WeWe Global and LyoFI being a Ponzi scheme, this will last until invested funds dry up.

Note that math guarantees the majority of investors in Ponzi schemes lose money. WeWe Global and LyoFI will of course represent you’re making money through LYO token daily return payments.

Trying to cash that for bitcoin is another story. It’ll work until it doesn’t (no more money to steal).

Taking a step back to make sense of this, it appears WeWe Global’s original WEWEX Ponzi collapsed sometime in late 2021. They might be keeping it limping along with new activity through LyoFI.

Prior to getting into bed with WeWe Global, LyoPay was a dying/dead crypto exchange.

Luiz Goes is running his own Ponzi through LyoPay, promising investors 60% a year.

This is doable because Goes created LYO tokens on demand at the push of a button.

For investors again the issue is converting LYO into something that can actually be cashed out. It’ll work until it doesn’t.

Digging deeper into the business relationship between LyoPay and WeWe Global, it’s probably a variation of the white label Ponzi factory service Goes offers:

One thing that caught my eye with LyoPay’s white label Ponzi offering was travel bookings:

WeWe Global bundled travel bookings with its original Ponzi through “Travel4You” – that is still up at “travel4you.io”.

Traffic to the site is dead though because nobody is investing in WeWe Global for travel discounts, they’re there for the Ponzi scheme.

What I’m thinking is WeWe Global’s original Ponzi scheme was set up within LyoPay. That brings us back to Luiz Goes.

If, as represented, WeWe Global just has a white label partnership with LyoPay, why is Luiz Goes giving detailed WeWe Global marketing presentations?

Goes is

in Dubai;

promoting WeWe Global; and

owns the platform WeWe Global now seemingly runs its Ponzi scheme off of.

Further supporting Goes running WeWe Global is the fact we haven’t seen a single WeWe Global executive in a over a year.

LyoPay is also incorporated as DigiLYO App LTD, a UK shell company. UK shell incorporation is another red flag but the naming structure of DigiLYO App LTD is what’s significant here.

We have

WeWe Global – DigiTech Services LTD;

LyoFI – DigiFi Group LTD; and

LyoPay – DigiLYO App LTD.

Timeline wise WeWe Global’s website was registered seven months prior to LyoPay. Both companies’ social media accounts however were set up in August 2020 – so they launched around the same time.

I believe the internal exchange WeWe Global initially launched with was a clone of LyoPay’s standalone exchange. LyoPay has now been properly integrated through LyoFI.

Goes has already demonstrated he’s running multiple exchanges with LyoTrade.

I can’t rule out Goes running WeWe Global but I can’t definitively confirm it yet either. As it stands, all signs point to Goes being behind WeWe Global and LyoFI.

Anyway, regardless of who’s running an MLM Ponzi scheme, the outcome is the same:

The majority of investors lose money to the scammers running and top promoters.

Jose Gordo, believed to be based out of Spain, has been desperately trying to get WeWe Global off the ground in South America.

Gordo is best known in the MLM industry as a top net-winner in the notorious OneCoin Ponzi scheme.

In late 2020 Gordo was indicted in Argentina on criminal fraud charges related to OneCoin. He remains a wanted fugitive.

[morning9amnews]

OFAC Sanctions Key Rosneft Subsidiary and Executive for Operating in the Oil Sector of Venezuela

Key Points

On February 18, 2020, OFAC designated Rosneft Trading, S.A. (Rosneft Trading), a subsidiary of Russia-based Open Joint-Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft Oil Company), and its president, Didier Casimiro, on the SDN List for brokering crude oil shipments from Venezuela—activities that are restricted under E.O. 13850.

As a result of this action, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from doing business with Rosneft Trading, Didier Casimiro, and entities they own 50 percent or more, absent OFAC authorization. These sanctions do not apply to Rosneft Oil Company or related entities that are not 50 percent or more owned by Rosneft Trading or Casimiro.

OFAC has also issued General License 36, which authorizes U.S. persons to engage in otherwise prohibited activities in order to wind-down transactions involving Rosneft Trading and entities that it owns by 50 percent or more. This license is valid through 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 20, 2020.

Non-U.S. persons could be subject to sanctions if OFAC determines that they provide material assistance, goods or services to Rosneft Trading and/or Casimiro. OFAC states in an FAQ that non-U.S. persons will not be exposed to sanctions if they engage in activities with Rosneft Trading during the wind-down period that are consistent with General License 36, but such authorized wind-down activities would not include entering into “new business” with Rosneft Trading.

Background and Summary of Designations

On February 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC designated Rosneft Trading, a Swiss-incorporated subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, and its president, Didier Casimiro, as SDNs for engaging in activities deemed sanctionable under Executive Order 13850—specifically, operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy, and in Casimiro’s case, acting on behalf of Rosneft Trading. In a press release accompanying the designation, the U.S. State Department explained that “[a]s the primary broker of global deals for the sale and transport of Venezuela’s crude oil, Rosneft Trading has propped up the dictatorial [Nicolás] Maduro, enabling his repression of the Venezuelan people.”

Over the past year, U.S. government officials have specifically mentioned Rosneft entities as potential targets of future U.S. sanctions due to Rosneft’s continued support of the Maduro regime in Venezuela. For instance, in March 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that “Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft continues to purchase crude oil cargoes from [Petróleos de Venezuela] PdVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company in defiance of U.S. sanctions.” Earlier this month, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said in a press briefing that Rosneft’s continued support of the Maduro regime “is not a good business decision” and foreshadowed potential U.S. action “in the near future.”

Consistent with the administration’s “maximum pressure” policy against the Maduro regime, in announcing this sanctions designation, U.S. officials indicated that the administration will sanction additional persons who conduct business with the Maduro regime, which could occur as soon as the next several weeks.

Implications

As a result of the above designations, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions or business with Rosneft Trading, Didier Casimiro and entities owned 50 percent or more by them, absent OFAC authorization. Additionally, U.S. persons that come into the possession or control of property or assets of these sanctioned persons are obligated to block them and report them to OFAC.

OFAC also issued General License 36 (GL-36) to authorize the wind down of transactions involving Rosneft Trading and entities owned 50 percent or more by Rosneft Trading through 12:01 a.m. EST on May 20, 2020. Furthermore, Rosneft Trading and entities owned 50 percent or more by Rosneft Trading, as well as other entities that Rosneft Oil Company owns by 50 percent or more, are also separately subject to Directives 2 and 4 of E.O. 13662 under the Ukraine Related Sanctions Regulations (URSR). Directives 2 and 4 prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions involving certain debt issued by and unconventional oil projects involving these entities; thus, any wind-down activities must comply with these separate sanctions restrictions. See OFAC FAQ #817.

Additionally, as noted in newly-issued OFAC FAQ #818, non-U.S. persons may wind-down transactions with Rosneft Trading without sanctions exposure under E.O. 13850, as long as such wind-down activity is consistent with GL-36 and completed prior to 12:01 a.m. EDT, May 20, 2020. However, engaging in “new business” with Rosneft Trading and entities owned 50 percent or more by Rosneft Trading will not be considered wind-down activity. Non-U.S. persons may be subject to future secondary sanctions if the Secretary of Treasury determines that such persons have “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technical support for, or goods or services to or in support of” Rosneft Trading or Casimiro. Non-U.S. persons may also face primary sanctions risks in connection with any business they may conduct involving a U.S. nexus (e.g., U.S. Dollar-denominated transactions or U.S. origin goods) with Rosneft Trading or Casimiro.

Additional Considerations

While OFAC’s blocking action against Rosneft Trading does not apply to Rosneft Trading’s ultimate parent company, Rosneft Oil Company, entities owned 50 percent or more by Rosneft Oil Company remain subject to Directives 2 and 4 sanctions restrictions under the URSR, as described above. Furthermore, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Rosneft Oil Company if Rosneft Trading, Didier Casimiro or entities owned 50 percent or more by them are involved.

It is important to note that Didier Casimiro currently holds a prominent position as Vice President for Refining, Petrochemical, Commerce and Logistics at Rosneft Oil Company, sits on Rosneft Oil Company’s management board and serves in prominent roles in other Rosneft subsidiaries. We highlight this because even though Rosneft Oil Company is not an SDN or blocked person, OFAC has issued guidance, in light of its 2017 civil penalty action against ExxonMobil involving the company’s dealings with Rosneft President (and SDN) Igor Sechin,1 warning that “persons should be cautious in dealings with such a non-blocked entity to ensure that they are not, for example, dealing with a blocked person representing the non-blocked entity, such as entering into a contract that is signed by a blocked person.” See OFAC FAQ #398. Given Casimiro’s current position within Rosneft Oil Company, it will be important for U.S. persons to engage in due diligence to ensure that he is not involved in transactions in which they participate that involve Rosneft Oil Company.